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Formula DRIFT Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Results

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Formula DRIFT Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Results;
Chelsea Denofa Takes His First Ever Formula DRIFT Victory

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Long Beach, Calif. – April 10, 2016 – Formula DRIFT presented by BlackVue returned to Long Beach for the kickoff event of the 2016 Pro Championship season. Chelsea Denofa in the BC Racing / GT Radial BMW earned his first ever Formula DRIFT victory to start the season at the top of the standings.

Round 1: Streets of Long Beach kicked off the new season in dramatic fashion. The volume of rain, the variable surface conditions of the street course, which made for treacherous conditions in general during Friday’s practice, created a rain delay, which ultimately resulted in the Series making the decision to draw on a provision of the Sporting Regulations that allows the Series to forgo Qualifying in the face of inclement weather. Drivers were placed into the Top 32 bracket based on their 2015 ranking. The weather held up for the main competition and the drivers were able to give the fans a great showing to start the season.

“The weather definitely added a challenging element to this event, but the action was as intense as ever to kickoff the season,” said Jim Liaw, President of Formula DRIFT. “Despite the rain, the fans came out to show their support. This season is already shaping up to be one of the most exciting and for the local fans we will keep things going with the Super Drift competition next weekend under the lights during the Long Beach Grand Prix.”

Returning champion and winner of Round 1 in 2015, Fredric Aasbo in the Rockstar Energy / Nexen Tire SR by Toyota tC battled through some car issues to meet Odi Bakchis in the Ark Performance / Feal Suspension / Falken Tire Hyundai Genesis in the semi-finals. Aasbo edged out Bakchis to enter the Finals. The 2015 runner-up Ken Gushi in the GReddy Racing / Nexen Tire SR Toyota 86 faced off against Chelsea Denofa in an exciting battle. Denofa beat out Gushi to face the champion in the Finals, which gave Gushi the third place event finish. With momentum on his side, Denofa out matched Aasbo to take his first ever Formula DRIFT victory. This also marks the first victory for tire supplier GT Radial.

“I’d like to thank everyone that I work with including GT Radial, BC Racing, Turbo by Garrett, and everyone that helped with the car,” said Chelsea Denofa, winner of Round 1: Streets of Long Beach. “We have been working on this for so long and so hard and through mechanical failures to finally be able to work together and push through to get on the top.”

The 2016 Formula DRIFT Pro Championship will continue to Round 2: Road to the Championship on May 6-7 at Road Atlanta. For more information visit: www.formuladrift.com and find Formula DRIFT on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Tune into Formula DRIFT on CBS Sports and check your local listings for airtimes.

Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Event Results

1. Denofa, Chelsea BC Racing / GT Radial BMW Winner
2. Aasbo, Fredric Rockstar Energy Drink / Nexen SR by Toyota tC 2nd Place
3. Gushi, Ken GReddy Racing / Nexen Tire SR by Toyota 86 3rd Place
4. Bakchis, Aurimas Feal Suspension / ARK Performance / Falken Tire Hyundai Genesis 4th Place
5. Tuerck, Ryan Gumout / Nameless Performance / Hankook Tire SR by Toyota FR-S 5th Place
6. Wang, Forrest Get Nuts Lab / Hankook Tire Nissan S15 6th Place
7. Field, Matt Falken Tire / Driftcave Motorsports Nissan S14 7th Place
8. Gittin, Vaughn Monster Energy / Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR 8th Place
9. Forsberg, Chris NOS Energy Drink / Hankook Tire Nissan 370Z 9th Place
10. Kearney, Dean Oracle Lighting Dodge Viper 10th Place
11. McQuarrie, Tyler Mobil 1 Chevrolet Camaro 11th Place
12. Whiddett, Mike Red Bull / Nitto Tire Mazda MX-5 12th Place
13. Ng, Charles Sogun Motorsports / Achilles Tire Infiniti G37 13th Place
14. Essa, Michael Loudmouth Exhaust / Achilles BMW M3 14th Place
15. Bluss, Kristaps HGK / Motul / Achilles Tire BMW E46 15th Place
16. Jones, Jeff DOC Racing Nissan S14 16th Place

2016 Formula DRIFT Championship Presented by BlackVue Standings After 1 Event

1. Denofa, Chelsea BC Racing / GT Radial BMW 100.00 Points
2. Aasbo, Fredric Rockstar Energy Drink / Nexen Tire SR by Toyota tC 80.00 Points
3. Gushi, Ken GReddy Racing / Nexen Tire SR by Toyota 86 64.00 Points

2016 Formula DRIFT World Championship Standings Top 3

1. Denofa, Chelsea BC Racing / GT Radial BMW 100.00 Points
2. Aasbo, Fredric Rockstar Energy Drink / Nexen Tire SR by Toyota tC 80.00 Points
3. Gushi, Ken GReddy Racing / Nexen Tire SR by Toyota 86 64.00 Points

2016 Manufacturer Championship Standings After 1 Event

1. SR by Toyota 144.00 Points
2. BMW 132.00 Points
3. Ford 64.00 Points
4. Nissan 48.00 Points
5. Mazda 48.00 Points
6. Infiniti 48.00 Points
7. Chevy 32.00 Points
8. Dodge 32.00 Points

2016 Tire Championship Standings After 1 Event

1. Nexen 144.00 Points
2. GT Radial 116.00 Points
3. Falken 112.00 Points
4. Hankook 96.00 Points
5. Nitto 80.00 Points
7. Achilles 64.00 Points

Formula DRIFT Endorses Race Ramps And Their Continued Partnership

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Formula DRIFT is proud to announce the continued partnership with Race Ramps. Race Ramps provides products for vehicle maintenance and car services as well as for trailer loading and unloading.

“We value the support of Race Ramps for the Series,” said Kevin Well, competition director of Formula DRIFT. “Their products are the perfect solution for lowered drift cars as the products can accommodate the low clearance of the cars. Race Ramps are effective and convenient as their light weight makes it easy to transport to all of our events on the circuit.”

Formula DRIFT Enacts Pre-Seeding Format Due to Inclement Weather

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Long Beach, Calif. – April 8, 2016 – In a rare move today, Formula DRIFT was forced to enact a never been used before provision of the Sporting Regulations that allows Formula DRIFT to forgo Qualifying in the face of inclement weather or the inability to start or finish Qualifying.

Formula DRIFT is not unfamiliar with rainy conditions as six of seven rounds were completed in such conditions in 2015. However, given the volume of rain, the variable surface conditions of the street course, combined with being a public street, made for treacherous conditions in general. Adding that walls surround the course added another level of risk, in which the Series did not want to take in light of making sure that all 32 drivers were ready for competition tomorrow, whatever the conditions may be. The decision was made shortly after Top 32 Practice started when as many as seven consecutive drivers wrecked into the walls of outside zone two. This rare occurrence caused Formula DRIFT to go on Rain Delay and call a drivers meeting with teams to discuss the options that would best suite the drivers and fans.

“We spoke to the teams and the large majority felt it was better to have a full field of 32 drivers tomorrow than risk wrecks that would not be fixable due to the damage cause by the walls or have drivers with double zero’s that would disallow them to be placed in the bracket”, says Kevin Wells, Competition Director of Formula DRIFT. “Being that we had exactly 32 cars in competition, no one would be left out and so that seemed to be the prudent thing to do. We want the drivers to have a voice. The majority spoke and we answered.”

The show did not end there, however. Formula DRIFT opened up the track for open practice and under much less stressed conditions; fans at the event and watching the live stream were treated to an open tandem practice ahead of tomorrow’s event. All 32 drivers are set to go and ready to kick off Round 1 of 8 tomorrow on the streets of Long Beach.

For more information visit: www.formuladrift.com, www.NetworkA.com, and www.Sportsrocket.com. Find Formula DRIFT on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Tune into Formula DRIFT on CBS Sports and check your local listings for airtimes.

Formula D Long Beach ’16 Media Day By Super Street

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Formula D Long Beach 2016 Media Day RADBUL Mad Mike

The wait is almost over. The start of season 13 of the Formula DRIFT Professional Championship is nearly upon us, Round 1 of 8 for ’16 on turns 9, 10, and 11 of the famous Grand Prix of Long Beach, Calif., street circuit. And we couldn’t be more stoked.

As per usual, the series held a Media Day a few days ahead of the event to reveal any late-breaking announcements, make some of the drivers available for interviews, and even get some of the assembled journalists a ride-along in a pro drift car – basically empowering the press to generate some buzz on FD’s behalf. At the top of the order was news that Formula D and championship title sponsor BlackVue had come up with bonus prize money – to the tune of $25,000 – for the driver that can win three specific events, Round 1, Round 4 at Wall Stadium in New Jersey, and Round 5 at Evergreen Speedway in Washington.

Formula d long beach 2016 media day Aasbo Forsberg Tuerck Bakchis

Everyone also got see a handful of returning cars with fresh liveries and new entries for the first time. Chris Forsberg’s NOS Energy Nissan 370Z, Fredric Aasbo’s Rockstar Energy Scion tC, Ken Gushi’s Greddy Performance Toyota 86, Ryan Tuerck’s Gumout 86, and others rocked new skins, while hot shoes like Vaughn Gittin, with his 2016 Monster Energy Ford Mustang RTR, and Mad Mike Whiddett, with the Red Bull “RADBUL” Mazda ND MX-5 Miata, sported new (or newish in the case of Mad Mike) machines.

We will be covering all angles of the event this weekend, with reports (including live video) on our social media channels as well as results and recaps here on the website. However, if you can’t be in Long Beach and want to watch the crazy sideways action blow by blow, make sure to check out the Formula D Livestream.

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